I live in a small town of about 50,000. In the last month we have lost 2 good men, one of whom was a good friend of mine. Both of these deaths speak much louder to the need for some gun rules than Newtown or the recent Boston terrorism. But I have not heard anyone here even make a connection between these incidents and the need for some rules regarding guns.

It's interesting that most people at least want more background checks, but special interests make most politicians against this.

We need to eliminate special interest influence of our government.

Yet gun control seems to be very ineffective.

For these publicized incidents, in most cases the perpetrators talk about it before hand so if people just knew what to look for and communicated to the authorities, maybe most of them could be prevented

For the 1000s of gun deaths, maybe make education cheaper?

Maybe all males should be locked up from age 18 to 28 or so? No, that's not practical.

"The people running the stations know this is a reliable way to raise ratings and they have to win that game to be profitable. Sensationalism in journalism has been around a long time, but I think it's only since the cable news era that it's gotten so ubiquitous it's become synonymous with what people think of as "news.""

I'd attribute it more to when networks decided that the news had to be profitable. That wasn't the case in the 'golden days' of news. When you have to be profitable, you have to pander.

I think it also has a great deal to do with the direction in which the violence flows.

"Terrorist" attacks largely flow upwards, that is, the violence doesn't follow class lines/boundaries and can hurt people in any part of the class spectrum. That scares people and upsets the status quo.

The staggering daily gun violence numbers in this country are largely driven by young males at the lower end of the socio-economic spectrum. This violence flows evenly or downward across class lines. So "nobody" pays attention, at least nobody outside of those communities. But if/when this violence happens to spill across a class line and go up the ladder to hurt "somebody", you're more likely to hear about it on the "news".

>>So "nobody" pays attention, at least nobody outside of those communities. But if/when this violence happens to spill across a class line and go up the ladder to hurt "somebody", you're more likely to hear about it on the "news".

Exactly right. How many women of color disappeared from their communities that no one ever heard about during the months the world was searching for white, upper class, on-vacation Natalie Holloway?

Why do backpacking magazines spend so much time talking about bears, and no time talking about the most dangerous thing we ever do on a backpacking trip--which is drive to the trailhead?

It's because bears are rare and seem exotically dangerous. Driving is neither. It's just a lot more deadly.

How many people would read a backpacking magazine if the cover touted: Ten Ways to Make your Drive to the Trailhead safer? And included such tips as "keep to the speed limit, and signal before making a turn?

But talk about using wasp spray as a bear deterrent, and you can get a whole column in the magazine!

How about driving back from the trailhead, when you're dead tired, famished, and the only thing in your mind is getting a burger and fries with a cold beer! That's gotta be teh worst combination ever! ;)

It's not that malicious people. News media attempts to tell you something you didnt already know. Boston was new news. violence in "poor America" is not new, we already know about that. throw a couple stories about car chases and drive-bys up on the wall each evening and you've pretty much exhausted the subject. Now, put up a new gun-control law and all of a sudden gun deaths is news again, since it relates to important "new" legistation being considered. If the news instead focused on improving society and educating people, they would cease to exist. There are other entities pursuing these loftier goals. News media just entertains and informs, with the former being slightly more important, by necessity.

And stop this silly notion of "holding our journalists to a higher standard". As long as journalists work for big media, and big media makes money based on how many people watch...Then the math is simple. The "standards" the journalist is held to is the "standards" of the average american TV audience.

I dont see so much politics, conspiracy, or dishonesty here as much as I see basic free market economics. As Americans get poorer, we get dumber and our media just reflects what we want to watch. I'm not saying poor people are dumb. I'm saying that for many Americans who must work very hard just to make ends meet, the most important thing a TV can do is take their mind off the bullshit for a while, entertain them and tell them who won the damn game.

I agree that "holding the media to a higher standard" isn't going to work. As long as we are happy to watch sloppy reporting they'll keep doing it. What we could do would be teach more logic and critical thinking skills in school. Maybe a better educated society would support a better media? Maybe our politicians would make good arguments about issues rather then oversimplifying, and resorting to ad hominum attacks? We can always dream.

I don't necessarily disagree with you. I personally hold them accountable by who I listen to and who I've turned off. I'm fairly conservative and should be low hanging fruit for Fox but I can't remember the last time I watched them or have been to their website.

Re: Headline: "Why does America lose its head over 'terror' but ignore its daily gun deaths?"
on 06/27/2013 05:52:27 MDT

Ho-hum, here we go again. It's always so predictable how these "discussions" go, both sides. Over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. Did I leave out any "overs"? :-)

Maybe talk about the failed education system which helped create a generation that is wholly ignorant of the founding principles of this country. Wholly ignorant of the Constitution and the rights guaranteed by it. Wholly ignorant of the hundreds of thousands of lives that paid for their way of life and the sacrifices affecting millions of families.

Gun control equates to trampling a portion of the Constutution. If you don't like the Second Amendment than work within the system to get it repealed. Otherwise stop trampling the rights of others.